text:
Dear Sam.
Received your postcard. All you seem to be doing lately is washing. When you come home you'll put the wet wash out of bussiness. Lena and Bert went to Nantasket Beach today and Pa and I just got through supper. I am saving all the mail I get from you and if you save all you get and send it home there'll be some fun reading it over when you get back. When ever that is.
Molly likes her new tenement first rate. Mary came up yesterday to ask Brother Bert, as she calls him, down to her house for dinner. She is the limit. Molly is going to give Lena her gas stove because there was one in her tenement. Some class. Madge is about the same. Mary told me today that John and Anna got a card from you. I am going down there this evening to see how Madge is. The Hollands got your letter yesterday. I showed your souvernier in the shop today and all the girls liked it. It seems funny to them that I should hear from you most every day and all they get is about 1 letter a week. I guess they are all jealous. The password now is, "Did you get a letter last night?" My answer is always yes, and they say, "Gee I didn't." I beat them all, thanks to you.
Pa is feeling fine and is looking good too. We still play the machine but the same old records. We haven't bought one since you've been gone. Henry's favorite is that Hawaiian Hotel. When he comes over he plays it over and over. I played my harmonic for him last Sun. and he was surprised to hear me play so good. He said Lena had the piano and I played the harmonic and you had the graphonola and then he asked pa what he did and pa told him he was the Major.
Well I wrote more than I thought I was going to. I must close as I want to see Madge. I hope this letter finds you well and cheerful. We are all fine and send our love. Amen.
With Love from all
The Kid.
P.S. Don't forget to wash your neck as well as your clothes.
© Copyright 2009 by Richard Landers, All Rights Reserved. No reproduction without permission.


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Photo of the Day: Crocodile Meat for Sale
At Deluxe Food Market in Manhattan's Chinatown, you can actually buy crocodile meat, displayed with claws attached no less. And since everybody loves crocodile meat variety, there are two kinds available: the leg meat for $3.99 a pound, and "other parts," more like steak-quality meat, for $4.99. Those nails are just, wow. 79 Elizabeth Street, New York NY 10013 (b/n Grand and Hester Streets; map); 212-925-5766

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Infinity Scarfs
November 7, 2012
9 comments:
you are invited to follow my blogReplyDelete
Love infinity scarves!ReplyDelete
What a great look. So comfy/cozy, perfect for fall!ReplyDelete
Happy Wednesday!
Understated Classics
I'm just obsessed with scarves. I wear a lot of black/gray to work and a color/patterned scarf really changes up the outfit.ReplyDelete
I like your outfit very much. Wish I was brave enough to wear the skinnies or leggins tucked into boots.ReplyDelete
I like infinity scarves too, and scarves in general. They really add to an outfit. I get that urge for more more more too around this time of year!
Fab blog!ReplyDelete
I'm a new GFC follower :)
Love your top and scarf together! I usually go striped top and solid scarf, but I can't wait to get my hands on a stripey scarf and try this out.ReplyDelete
Samantha @ Sam ipsa loquitur
- AnonymousNovember 10, 2012 at 8:50 AM
Such a lovely outfit! I just chanced upon your blog and love your sense of style. That top is adorable, and your striped scarf is too cute. I've followed you, dear! Can't wait for new, fabulous posts on your blog.ReplyDelete
Have a great weekend ahead!
Love, Fatima fashionpilgrim
Twitter: @fashpilgrim
Instagram: @fashionpilgrim
Maroon looks beautiful on you! Great color!ReplyDelete


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Brevoort Playground
Brevoort Playground Is July's Park of the MonthBREVOORT PLAYGROUND IS JULY'S PARK OF THE MONTH
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
No. 70
Brevoort Playground has been named July's Park of the Month. Located on Ralph Avenue and Chauncey Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, the playground features a spray shower area, a glass rock wall, a fully landscaped central garden and an exciting performance space.
On June 16, 2009, Commissioner Adrian Benepe joined Council Member Darlene Mealy, community members and children from P.S. 40 to cut the ribbon on improvements to Brevoort Playground. This project fully reconstructed Brevoort Playground with play equipment for toddlers and young children, swings, an exercise area with fitness equipment for adults, handball courts and basketball courts. Drinking fountains, lighting, game tables, a new flagpole and steel fencing complement the improvements.
"July's Park of the Month is another design masterpiece by Parks' landscape architect Emmanuel Thingue, whose creativity has revitalized parks from South Oxford to Cadman Plaza. More of his designs will pop up in Brooklyn as Calvert Vaux Park is now under construction," said Parks Commissioner Benepe. "With more than $2.5 million in funding from Council Member Darlene Mealy and Mayor Bloomberg, Brevoort has become a neighborhood oasis. We have made many additions to this park during the past year, including new basketball courts, a spray shower and a glass rock wall. It is also the new model for sustainable design, with pavers made from concrete recycled from the old wading pool and an absorbent lawn and planting beds replacing the old asphalt. If you are looking for a playground with lots of variety, Brevoort Playground is one of the best bets in Brooklyn."
New York City acquired this parkland along with the site for the adjacent housing development in February of 1951. The New York City Housing Authority leased the playground to Parks in 1957 and it was named after the Brevoort family, who settled in what was then New Amsterdam in the 17th century.
This playground and the adjacent housing development were built at the same time and are named for one of New York's oldest families, the Brevoorts. At their peak, the Brevoorts held nearly 80 acres of property, stretching from the Bowery to Sixth Avenue and from what is now Ninth Street to 18th Street. Other famous Brevoorts designed St. Patrick's Cathedral, Grace Church in lower Manhattan and the Booth Theater in midtown. The Brevoort name, like the name Stuyvesant, is synonymous with the story of Old New York.
Park of the Month introduces some of our greatest parks and recreation centers to curious New Yorkers and visitors alike. Visit www.nyc.gov/parks for more information about Brevoort Playground and an archive for past featured parks.
Directions to Brevoort Playground
- Brevoort Playground is July's Park of the Month


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Find out how you can help with our ongoing bird banding project!
Help to restore native species and seed sources, protect at-risk areas, enhance wildlife habitat and more.
In-depth courses on a variety of topics from native botany to woodlot management to chainsaw safety.
Every camp is an adventure for the children but also an incredible educational experience.
Be a part of something big and join us in making healthy Island forests a reality!


text:
- App Store Info
DescriptionAnimalABC is a simple animal learning program for children. Children learn about animals by seeing and hearing the sounds an animal makes. It combines an easy-to-use interface and fun sound effects to entertain children while they learn.
* 50+ animals
* touch/tap to change animal
* hear the animal name, the animal sound effect, or the animal name spelled
* individual letters are highlighted as the animal name is being spelled
* set the default sound when the animal is first shown to "Animal Name", "Animal Sound", or "Spell Name"
A Note on Sound
Please make sure the PHONE IS NOT IN SILENT MODE (the switch on the side of the phone should be up) and Settings | General | Sound Effects is set to BOTH.
You need to use headphones or an external speaker on a first generation iPod Touch (as it has no external speaker)


text:
Supposed psychological profiles of senior members of hacking horde Anonymous are almost certainly a work of fiction.
The bogus paperwork created a buzz last week when it showed up on Tugaleaks. Allegedly written by the FBI's Behavioural Science Unit, the profiles suggested that LulzSec kingpin Sabu is a narcissistic nihilist who is married and works in the tech sector.
Fellow member Kayla, who poses as a young female online, was said to be a bloke in his early 20s who was possibly abused as a child and is likely to be a drug user.
The characterisation of arrested former Anonymous member Topiary as "cannon fodder for law enforcement" provides the strongest clue that the supposed documents are an elaborate wind-up or attempt at misinformation. In addition, the spelling and grammatical mistakes in the documents are out of place in an official dossier of this type.
Although convincing at first sight, the profiles appear to have been put together using snippets of publicly available information from news reports and other sources. Whistle-blowing site Cryptome.org is convinced the whole thing is an elaborate hoax.
"The FBI psychological profiles of Anonymous leadership is a joke. Pretty well done but not convincing if read carefully," it concludes.
The FBI itself has denied producing the supposed document and suggested Anonymous itself cooked up the fake profiles as an elaborate joke, Kaspersky Labs news service Threatpost reports. ®


text:
Microsoft Office Support Sydney
Computer Troubleshooters are Microsoft Partners supporting the broad range of Microsoft Office Products for Business & the equivalent products in the Home.
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text:
Download ManageEngine Applications Manager – application performance monitoring solution
ManageEngine Applications Manager is an application performance monitoring solution that proactively monitors business applications and help businesses ensure their revenue-critical applications meet end user expectations. Applications Manager offers out-of-the-box monitoring support for 80+ applications and servers.
Features of Applications Manager:
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- Holistic View of IT Resources – Manage a wide range of business applications and network services. Get the flexibility to group the application and its related services to be monitored as a single unit.
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- Root Cause Analysis – Identify performance bottlenecks easily and reduce the time spent on analyzing problems. The root cause analysis view is displayed as a hierarchical structure and is accessible from all pages of the web client.
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- Intuitive interface with modern design – Allows you to monitor and view performance attributes, create custom dashboards and perform admin activities through a web browser interface. You can also access the client via smartphones and the native iPhone or Android app.
- Multi-User Access – Assign different user roles such as user, operator, administrator and manager and allow for restricted access.
- Multilingual Support – Apart from the English version, Applications Manager is also available in German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Hungarian, Japanese and Vietnamese languages.


text:
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text:
DOVER — Just as the plows get the roads back to normal after Sunday's snowfall, another storm will pass through the region Wednesday bringing yet another messy commute and mix of wintry weather.
At least 2 to 4 inches of snow — and up to 6 inches, according to some reports — is expected before temperatures rise and the storm turns to sleet and freezing rain. Precipitation will begin tonight and linger until early Wednesday evening, according to Tom Kines of AccuWeather.
"Right now, I'd have to say more snow and sleet is expected than freezing rain," he said Monday afternoon. "Having said that, sleet can certainly hold snow amounts down."
Kines said it is hard to tell at this point how much snow we will see, but said there is "definite potential" for at least 2 to 4 inches.
"I am pretty confident at least a few inches (will fall) before any sleet or freezing rain gets involved with the storm," he said.
Temperatures will be close to 40 degrees on Tuesday and will drop to near freezing Tuesday night. On Wednesday, temperatures will slowly climb through the 30s, according to Kines, which makes it difficult to tell whether snow, sleet or freezing rain will drop.
The wintry mix is a pain to shovel, and will cause some trouble on the roadways, Kines said.
"The problem with this storm is the sleet and rain," he said. "We will be close to that line where this is a significant amount of snow and where sleet and freezing rain will down snow amounts."
Kines said he will most likely have a better feel for how much cold air will hold on throughout the rest of the early part of this week, which will determine how much snow or rain the region will see by Wednesday night.
"It is a real tough call," he said.


text:
Fred Willard was in Anchorman with Ben Stiller who was in Cable Guy with Jim Carrey.
Next: Justin Kirk
You are here: Home ‹ Board index ‹ Welcome ‹ JCOs Playground
The Six Degrees of Jim Carrey
All games, quizzes, and other fun 'spam' (not advertisements) goes here!
Fred Willard was in Anchorman with Ben Stiller who was in Cable Guy with Jim Carrey.
Next: Justin Kirk
Justin Kirk was in cahpter zero with Dylan Walsh, Dylan Walshm was in Where The Heart Is with Uma Therman, who was in The Truth about cats and Dogs, with Jamie Foxx, who was in In Living Color with Jim Carrey.
Next: Roseanne Barr/Arnold
Roseanne Barr was on the Rosanne with John Goodman who was in Arachnophobia with Jeff Daniels who was in Dumb and Dumber with Jim Carrey.
Next: Billy Zane
Kurt Cobain was in "Kurt & Courtney" with Courtney Love
Courtney Love was in "Man In the Moon" with Jim Carrey
next: Martin Lawrence
Martin Lawrence played in big mamma's house with Anthony Anderson
Anthony Anderson played with Jim Carrey in Me, myselfe and Irene
next: Don Rickles
"Here I come to 'seize' the day!"
Don Rickles was in Casino with Robert DeNiro who was in Meet the Parents with Ben Stiller who was in The Cable Guy with Jim Carrey.
Next: Jim Broadbent
Jim Broadbent was in "Bridget Jones" with Renee Zellwegger
Renee Zellwegger was in "Me, Myself & Irene" with Jim
next Marlon Brando
Tony Moran was in Halloween 2 with Dick Warlock
Disk Warlock was in Deas Pool with Jim Carrey
Next: Eugene Levy
"Here I come to 'seize' the day!"
Eugene Levy was in Father of the Bride Part II with Diane Keaton who was in Marvin's Room with Meryl Streep who was in Lemony Snicket with Jim Carrey.
Next: Michael Imperioli
Michael Imperioli was in Shark Tale with Renée Zellweger who was with Jim in me, myself and Irene.
Next: Scott Cohen (hope thisone isn't too hard)
"Here I come to 'seize' the day!"
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text:
The first time, she was a junior official in Liberia's treasury department, and at a conference, "my remarks, which challenged the status quo, landed me in my first political trouble." Harvard officials at the conference helped her land a fellowship at the university to study public administration. But on her return, giving a commencement speech at her high school alma mater, she "questioned the government's failure to address long-standing inequalities in the society. This forced me into exile and a staff position at the World Bank." Sirleaf has been jailed for speaking out, as well.
These dramatic episodes, smoothed out and made crisp for the lectern at a formal speaking event, are only hinted at in her words. Instead, you'll catch her lively and strong voice when she uses sly humor throughout, tweaking the noses of her hosts, history and herself. Recalling George Marshall's speech in the same spot where he unveiled what's now known as the Marshall Plan, she said, "He began, 'I need not tell you gentlemen'," then added "I don't know where the ladies were."
Johnson recounts her administration's accomplishments against tall odds, then tells the graduates:
The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough. If you start off with a small dream, you may not have much left when it is fulfilled because along the way, life will task your dreams and make demands on you.
Here's what I think you can learn from this famous speech:
- Big ideas don't need big words: Sirleaf demonstrates this tenet in the way she shares the measure of her success in building a peaceful nation: "Our seven-year-olds do not hear guns and do not have to run. They can smile again." It's an evaluative measure anyone can use, from an economist to a grandmother.
- Mention women in many roles: It's only when you hear a strong woman like this deliver such a speech that you realize how frequently and easily she mentions women, saluting Harvard's first woman president, asking where the women were at George Marshall's commencement address, talking about moving more women into leadership roles in her country. This is decidedly not a speech that only casts women as "mothers, wives and daughters."
- Add mirth to the mix: Sirleaf could be excused for giving a speech with an unrelenting catalog of serious issues. Instead, she pokes fun and prompts smiles throughout, not to make light of her nation or its challenges, but to take the mighty down a peg or two. It's a balancing act that makes this speech more personal and ultimately, more powerful and effective.
(Harvard University photo)
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text:
Java Library for Converting HTML into Markdown
Remark is a free, open-source library for taking (X)HTML input and outputting clean Markdown, Markdown Extra, or MultiMarkdown compatible text. The purpose of this conversion is mainly to allow for the use of client-side HTML GUI editors while retaining safe, mobile-device editable markdown text behind the scenes.
Learn more from the online Remark Manual.


text:
Ann Stratton
Go ahead, give in! After all, you can feel good about polishing off this irresistible dessert because it features antioxidant-packed fresh fruit.
- Yield
- Makes 4 servings
- Crust
- 4 tablespoons butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling crust
- 4 fluted 3-inch tart pans
- 4 tablespoon uncooked rice or dried beans
- Filling
- 1 tablespoon butter, softened
- 2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1/4 cup almond flour (or almond meal)
- 2 tablespoon 2 percent milk
- Fruit
- 1 tablespoon apricot preserves
- 2 ounces fresh raspberries (about 28 berries)
- Crust:
- Combine butter, sugar and salt in a bowl. Beat in egg, then flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until you get a shaggy dough (it holds together loosely, but it's not smooth or elastic). Dust a surface with flour, transfer dough to surface and, with lightly floured fingers, knead once or twice until a sticky dough forms. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 40 minutes. Heat oven to 350°F. Divide dough in half; reserve half for Chocolate-Banana Tarts or freeze, well-wrapped, for another use. Divide remainder into 4 pieces. With lightly floured fingertips, press 1 piece into each tart pan, working dough up the sides evenly. (If dough tears on bottom, smooth dough over hole to close it up.) Prick pastry along bottom with a fork several times. Gently press a small square of foil into each pastry shell (do not press down hard). Top each with 1 tablespoon uncooked rice or dried beans (to prevent pastry from puffing up). Place on a baking sheet and bake 10 minutes. Remove foil and rice from each crust; discard. Return crust to oven; cook until golden, about 5 minutes more. Keep oven on.
- Filling:
- Combine butter and sugar. Beat in yolk, followed by flour, until combined. Beat in milk until incorporated. Divide filling among tart shells and bake until puffed, about 15 minutes.
- Fruit:
- Heat preserves with 1 tablespoon water in a small sauté pan over low heat until melted, about 3 minutes. Press through a sieve into a bowl. Let cool. Arrange about 7 raspberries on top of each tart. Brush glaze onto raspberries and drizzle remaining glaze over raspberries until covered. Serve immediately.
Nutritional analysis per tart: 238 calories, 15.2 g fat (5.6 g saturated), 21 g carbs, 2.3 g fiber, 4.9 g protein


text:
Facebook activists discussed dressing up in Klan outfits as part of dirty tricks campaign to characterize Paul supporters as racist
Paul Joseph Watson
Monday, January 16, 2012
A group of Ron Paul-hating Facebook activists were caught planning a smear attack on the presidential candidate, after they openly discussed dressing up as Ku Klux Klan members and appearing at Ron Paul campaign events in South Carolina in an attempt to frame Paul's supporters as racists.
Members of the 'Stop Ron Paul 2012' Facebook group posted a thread announcing a plan to stage a false flag against the Paul campaign by dressing up in racist garb and pretending they were Paul voters.
"If you live in South Carolina and want to have some real fun with these Paulbots here is what we do- go online and buy or make your very own KKK robe, complete with hood (hood is important)," stated the post. "Then get some Ron Paul signs off the internet or make your own. Follow Paul around South Carolina and be sure to get photographed by the media. Again, hoods are important. All can be Klansmen for Paul. Black, white, Jewish, Asian- those Paulbots will shit a brick!"
Although the thread was hastily deleted, a screenshots can be viewed below.
Other members of the group liked the idea, with one commenting, "That is seriously a great idea! Anyone wanna volunteer???," as another asked where they could acquire KKK robes.
When one member objected to the idea, another responded, "Why not show the world the truth about the type on ilk that supporters Ron Paul?" – a bizarre exercise in circular logic given the fact that the Paul haters planning to stage the hoax wouldn't need to dress up as racists if there were genuine Klan members who attended Paul's campaign stops.
Indeed, polls show Ron Paul is the most popular Republican amongst non-whites, debunking the myth that his campaign panders to racists.
The man who started the thread urging fellow Paul-haters to post as Klan members, Jere Brower, has a history of defamation-ridden anti-Paul posts, claiming the Congressman wants to "legalize child prostitution" and is "against children going to school". He has characterized Ron Paul supporters as "clinically insane," while also trolling singer Kelly Clarkson's Facebook page after she Tweeted her support for Paul last month.
According to Brower's LinkedIn page, he works for Google as a "Field Operations Specialist," specializing in "Crisis management, social media, media relations, brand specialist, event planning, event management". A former US Army Specialist (SPC), Brower is also a Herman Cain supporter.
Browser now appears to have deleted his Facebook profile.
- A d v e r t i s e m e n t
- {openx:74}
Another advocate of the smear, Chris Collins, lists his former employer as HermanCain.com. Collins, who called the KKK plan a "seriously great idea," also lists his activities as "Jackson County GOP", "Tea Party Movement", "Freemasonry", and "Jefferson Georgia Tea Party Patriots".
This is the second time within the space of a week that Ron Paul has been targeted for underhanded dirty tricks.
Last week we reported on how the media seized upon an anonymous You Tube video, purported to have been made by a Paul supporter, which offensively questioned Jon Huntsman's patriotism because he has adopted Chinese and Indian daughters.
The clip, which was cited to imply that Paul supporters were racist, was later analyzed by an independent company who discovered that the video "likely….came from a source within or closely tied to the Huntsman Campaign."
Rand Paul was also the target of a similar smear during his run for Kentucky Senator, when Obama campaign volunteer and long term Democratic operative Tyler Collins, a supporter of Paul's opponent Jack Conway, tried to portray Paul's supporters as racists by dressing up in a tin-foil hat and adopting a slack-jawed accent while carrying racist signs opposing illegal immigration. The Louisville Courier Journal even used footage of the man, portraying him as a legitimate Rand Paul supporter, in a video report about the event.
It remains to be seen whether Ron Paul haters will go to such extreme lengths to deceptively smear the Congressman, but given the establishment media's zeal to characterize Paul as a racist, don't be surprised to see Brower and his cohorts on CNN or Fox News at some point this week.
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.
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text:
In an emotional press conference, President Obama unveiled his "concrete steps" to keep kids safe, asking that Congress restore a ban on military-style assault weapons, make it easier for mental health professionals to report threats of violence and put a limit on ammunition. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.
Updated 2:56 p.m. -- President Barack Obama unveiled sweeping new policies Wednesday aimed at limiting gun violence, teeing up a political showdown that will pit the broad public popularity for many gun control measures against Congress's tepid appetite for approving the most stringent restrictions on gun ownership.
"While there is no law or set of laws that can prevent every senseless act of violence completely, no piece of legislation that will prevent every tragedy, every act of evil," Obama said at a mid-day announcement at the White House, "if there's even one thing we can do to reduce this violence, if there's even one life that can be saved, then we've got an obligation to try it."
Acknowledging the difficulty of the Congressional fight ahead, Obama appealed for public support, slamming - as he did in a press conference earlier this week - conservative commentators and the most vocal pro-gun activists for "ginning up" opposition to gun reforms for political reasons.
"I will put everything I've got into this and so will Joe [Biden], but I tell you, the only way we can change is if the American people demand it," he said.
Some of the main legislative proposals backed by Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are:
- requiring criminal background checks on all gun sales, including private sales
- banning "military-style" assault weapons
- limiting ammunition magazines to 10 rounds
- strengthening penalties for gun trafficking
"The most important changes we can make depend on Congressional action," Obama said. "They need to bring these proposals up for a vote and the American people need to make sure that they do."
Related Information: Gun Violence Fact Sheet | Gun Violence Executive Summary | Gun Violence Reduction Executive Actions
The president also signed a series of 23 executive actions - free from a Congressional blockade -- intended to strengthen existing laws, augment mental health measures and promote federal research on gun crime through the Centers for Disease Control.
The executive actions announced included stricter prosecution of would-be gun buyers who fail background checks as well as new requirements for federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.
The president's recommendations also direct administration officials to "clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes" and to "release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities."
Obama and Biden were joined at the White House event by families of the Newtown school shooting victims as well as by four children who wrote the president after the tragedy that left 20 young students dead.
"This is our first task as a society: keeping our children safe," Obama said at the beginning of his remarks. "This is how we will be judged, and their voices should compel us to change."
Biden, who led the presidential task-force on gun safety in the wake of the Newtown shootings, praised the activists who met with his staff over the last week to help build the list of recommendations.
"The world has changed and it's demanding action," Biden said.
While some of Obama's long-expected proposals - like universal background checks - garner overwhelming public support, the outlawing of certain types of weapons may be less of a slam dunk for lawmakers eager to appease constituents.
A recent poll from the Pew Research Center showed that a majority of Americans -- 55 percent -- back a ban on "assault-style weapons," with 40 percent saying they don't approve of a ban. But a partisan breakdown shows that only about four in ten Republicans support such restrictions, compared to a broad majority of Democrats.
Democrats in Congress have already voiced doubts about the feasibility of the president's most ambitious proposals.
"We're not going to get an outright ban" on assault weapons, Democrat Rep. Carolyn McCarthy of New York bluntly said yesterday.
"[Senate Majority Leader] Reid has said he doesn't know whether he has the votes (for an assault weapons ban)," she added. "There's heavy lifting, so are we going to waste time on heavy lifting? Or are we going to try to work on doing something that could actually get passed?"
Related: Obama's gun plans spark little enthusiasm with key lawmakers
Supporters are more optimistic about background checks and magazine restrictions.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy announced Wednesday that his panel will hold its first hearing on issues relating to gun violence on Jan. 30.
In his remarks Wednesday, Obama anticipated opponents' reactions to his proposals.
"This will be difficult," he said. "There will be pundits and politicians and special interest lobbyists publicly warning of a tyrannical all-out assault on liberty. Not because that's true, but because they want to gin up fear or higher ratings or revenue for themselves, and behind the scenes they will do everything they can to block any commonsense reform and make sure nothing changes whatsoever."
The National Rifle Association, the country's most powerful gun lobby, released a statement Wednesday afternoon in response to the president's remarks.
"We look forward to working with Congress on a bi-partisan basis to find real solutions to protecting America's most valuable asset - our children. Attacking firearms and ignoring children is not a solution to the crisis we face as a nation," the NRA wrote. "Only honest, law-abiding gun owners will be affected and our children will remain vulnerable to the inevitability of more tragedy."
That statement was relatively muted in comparison to the group's controversial ad released Tuesday night, which criticized Obama's dismissal of the gun lobby's proposal to increase armed security in schools.
"Are the president's kids more important than yours?" a narrator asks in the short ad. "Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools when his kids are protected by armed guards at their schools? Mr. Obama demands the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes, but he's just another elitist hypocrite when it comes to a fair share of security."
Related: White House calls NRA 'repugnant,' 'cowardly' for invoking president's children in ad
The ad prompted outcry from observers who said the First Family should be off limits for such advertisements, while NRA backers say their focus is on school safety rather than on the president's daughters themselves.
"Whoever thinks the ad is about President Obama's daughters are missing the point completely or they're trying to change the subject," said spokesman Andrew Arulanandam. "This ad is about keeping our children safe. And the president said he was skeptical about the NRA proposal to put policemen in all schools in this country. Yet he and his family are beneficiaries of multiple law enforcement officers surrounding them 24 hours a day."
White House spokesman Jay Carney shot back that the ad is "cowardly."
"Most Americans agree that a president's children should not be used as pawns in a political fight," he said. "But to go so far as to make the safety of the President's children the subject of an attack ad is repugnant and cowardly."
NBC's Mark Murray, Frank Thorp, Ali Weinberg and Kelly O'Donnell contributed to this report.


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Pros: Converts your existing display monitor into a touch screenCons: Requires strong hands to set up
Performance: AFeatures: AEase of use: AValue: B+Price as tested: $3,199; $2,804 GSA
We saw the Smart Board interactive display frame at FOSE this year and thought, as we often do, that it would be nice to have. It's an interactive frame that fits over any 42-inch to 65-inch display monitor and turns a plasma display into a touch screen. You can write on it using Smart Technologies' Notebook software and an electronic pencil that comes with it. You can even use your finger and can switch back and forth among pencil, finger, eraser and keyboard. Given that a screen that size with native touch capabilities would most likely cost well over $10,000, adding the display frame would save money, and make use of any older plasma displays you happen to have sitting around.
Innovative peripherals for input devices
Mice and other devices that roar
Das Keyboard Ultimate
Goldtouch ErgoSource 2.0 keyboard
Logitech Cordless Desktop Wave Pro keyboard and mouse
Saitek Eclipse II illuminated keyboard
GCN Lab home page
Nowadays you need a PC with Internet access when you're making a presentation. A whiteboard, projector and few PowerPoint slides aren't going to cut it anymore. The Smart Board interactive display frame lets you call up a Web site, at presentation size, to mark up.
Embedded in each bottom corner of the frame are cameras that register when a finger, pen or eraser touch the surface of the display. The electronic "pencil" that comes with it has one end for writing and one end for erasing, like a real pencil, and uses infrared signals to communicate with the interactive display. Touch the tip of the pencil to the plasma display and it produces digital ink on the screen. Flip to the eraser side, and it erases it.
We attached the frame to a Dell OptiPlex 745 with an Intel Core 2 duo processor running Windows XP. The frame fits over a number of plasma and hard-screen LCD panels. You attach it to the monitor by a clamp at each corner. The whole setup process, including frame, monitor and computer, is a pretty big job, requiring at least two people. All the pieces together, set up as we saw them at FOSE, weighed about 750 pounds. Even so, it would be heavier still if the frame were made of glass, which it isn't.
Once we set everything up, it worked perfectly. You can call up Web sites, slides, spreadsheets, anything, and go to town marking them up. You can save your input with Smart's Notebook software or its other products, Smart Meeting Pro and Smart Hub.
I preferred the electronic pencil to my finger on the frame surface. I kept wishing my finger was Teflon-coated because it kept snagging on the surface. Perhaps a glass frame surface would make for a smoother finger-screen interface, but that would cause a whole new set of problems.
The Smart Board interactive display frame would be a useful addition to the presentation toolbox of any business or agency.
Smart Technologies, 703-516-7627, www.smarttech.com
About the Author
Trudy Walsh is a senior writer for GCN.
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Underdog 'Argo' continues on charmed Oscar path
LOS ANGELES Some years, Academy Awards voters just want to feel right about themselves, their industry, their country. And maybe honor one of their own who hasn't always shared in the love of his peers.
That could explain why Ben Affleck's "Argo" has gone from best-picture longshot to Oscar favorite over such competitors as Steven Spielberg's stately but talky Civil War portrait "Lincoln" or Kathryn Bigelow's brilliant yet contentious CIA thriller "Zero Dark Thirty."
"Argo" is a feel-good thrill ride that's patriotic enough to warrant a good "USA! USA!" chant as the credits roll. It's all about how Hollywood helped save some lives. And a best-picture win could be viewed as righting a wrong after Affleck inexplicably missed out on a best-director nomination.
"There's a surge to embrace Ben Affleck in the aftermath of his Oscar snub. It seems like such an outrage that his film is benefiting from it as a result," said Tom O'Neil, who runs the awards website GoldDerby.com. "It really is a pro-'Argo' movement more than it is a kind of shrug off of 'Lincoln' or a disparagement of 'Zero Dark Thirty.' Hollywood is rallying around one of their wounded own."
"Argo" is one of three true-life best-picture nominees steeped in different eras of U.S. history. Spielberg's "Lincoln," which leads the Oscars with 12 nominations and looked like the front-runner until "Argo" began winning top honors at other awards shows, is a towering study of Abraham Lincoln as he maneuvers to end the war and pass the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery. "Argo" tells of a little-known victory amid an otherwise enervating chapter in American foreign affairs during the Iran hostage crisis. Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty" is a dark story of this last dark decade as the CIA builds leads that result in the Navy SEALs raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
In their way, all three are stories of American triumph, but told with wildly divergent tones. "Lincoln" is a saga of hope amid national tragedy, meticulously researched but a little emotionally remote because of its attention to Washington deal-making, 1860s-style. "Zero Dark Thirty" is a bleak tale of uncertain patriotism, also meticulously researched but at times more than a little emotionally repugnant because of the questionable means it depicts in a righteous cause. "Argo" is the one that turns triumph into an end-zone dance. Affleck has taken knocks in the past over his acting, but in only his third film as director, he shows complete mastery of populist movie-making. He gives viewers great drama, great laughs, agonizing tension and an exultant finale, all while playing loose with the facts in a way audiences can forgive in the name of a terrific piece of entertainment.
"When you look at the small group of movies that are really in contention to win, 'Argo' is the most exciting choice in two ways," said Dave Karger, chief correspondent for movie-ticket seller Fandango.com. "It's the most exciting of the movies, and it would be the most exciting winner because of its now underdog feeling that it has by not getting that directing nomination. 'Argo' is managing that near-impossible thing. It's winning everything, yet it still feels like the underdog."
Much like the story Affleck tells. As Iranian militants stormed the U.S. embassy, where they held 52 people hostage for 444 days, six Americans escaped and took refuge with Canadian diplomats. CIA rescue specialist Tony Mendez, played by Affleck, organized a daring plot to get them out disguised as crew members of a fake sci-fi movie scouting locations in Iran. Their unlikely escape by an outrageous scheme is a ray-of-sunshine footnote in the hostage story, a side story obscure enough that filmmakers could tweak it for all it's worth in a way that would never work with such well-known narratives as Lincoln's final days or the bin Laden raid.
That white-knuckle takeoff at the Tehran airport, with Iranian assault teams racing behind the jet down the runway? Never happened. In Mendez's book "Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History," the six Americans' passage through the Tehran airport and onto the plane was uneventful. The takeoff and two-hour flight out of Iranian airspace is told in just four sentences. Much like the escape, "Argo" is Hollywood audacity at its best, taking the gist of a true story and dressing it up into a fun night out.
Meantime, the makers of "Lincoln" and "Zero Dark Thirty" may have tried to be too genuine. Based partly on historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln," Spielberg's film is enormously entertaining yet professorial at times. Based on Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal's painstaking research, "Zero Dark Thirty" has prompted a savage debate over its depictions of interrogations, with critics saying the film misleads viewers for suggesting that torture provided information that helped the CIA find bin Laden.
"Lincoln" gets a little dry in its history lesson, and "Zero Dark Thirty" gets a little ugly in its reflection of deeds done in our name. Or more simply, "Lincoln" hurts our heads, "Zero Dark Thirty" hurts our hearts.
While "Argo" is a big wet kiss, a crowd-pleaser that works at every level.
"Argo" won at the Golden Globes and earned top honors from the Producers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild. Affleck is up for the big prize at Saturday's Directors Guild of America Awards, and if he wins there, it will establish "Argo" as a solid favorite at the Feb. 24 Oscars, where it would become just the fourth film to win best picture without a directing nomination.
Some years, heavy, somber films win, like Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" over the sci-fi smash "Avatar" three years ago. And some years, Oscar voters want that big wet kiss. The great escape chronicled in "Argo" seems to be just the sort of escapism they're looking for this season.


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Your personal information is no longer personal. It's stored in various databases waiting to be sold to a company or organization that wants to find you or someone like you.
The facts of your life are now just another commodity, like corn or wheat, that's collected and sold. In the world of marketing, knowledge is power.
Armed with this data, companies can target you with a customized pitch. Some of us — you can put me at the top of the list — find this database marketing incredibly invasive and annoying.
Last month, Pam Dixon who lives near Encinitas, Calif., did some holiday shopping. A few weeks ago, she got a call from one of the stores encouraging her to come back for their post-holiday sale. Dixon never gave the store her address or phone number, but she did use her credit card.
"With my credit card number and zip code they were able to use some database to find my phone number and contact me," she explains.
How does Dixon know that? She's the executive director of the World Privacy Forum. She works to help people keep control of their personal information. And these days — as Dixon's experience makes clear — it's easy to lose control.
"Even if you are very careful with giving out your personal information to others, it is almost impossible now to totally secure your information. There will be leakage."
When it comes to unwanted marketing pitches – you can run but you can't hide. The best you can do is reduce the volume of unwanted marketing pitches.
Why worry?
"In some situations the type of information you reveal can be used to commit identity theft. That's the most serious concern," notes Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy at the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. "But it can also result in phone calls, e-mail, junk mail and even faxes you don't want."
How we get on mailing lists
Dixon says the number one way people get on marketing lists these days is by filling out online surveys. Another sure way to get more junk mail and telemarketing calls is to enter a prize drawing at a store, fair or trade show. I never enter these things. If you do, think long and hard before you give them your cell phone number.
When you send in a warranty card, do you answer all those questions about your income, hobbies, marital status, etc.? That has nothing to do with your warranty protection. You don't even need to return the card to get the coverage. All that information is going into a database, to make it easier to sell you something else.
Your virtual mailbox makeover
The Direct Marketing Association is largest trade group of marketers in the U.S., representing 3,600 businesses and non-profits. DMA members realize it's a waste of money to pitch to people who don't want to know about their products or services.
That's why the association provides a free opt-out service called DMA Choice. You can go online and tell DMA members you don't want to get catalogs or pre-approved credit card offers or other sorts of advertising material.
"This puts you in control or what comes in and what doesn't come in to your mailbox," says DMA spokesperson Sue Geramian. "You can reduce the volume of things you don't want by up to 80 percent and you make sure you continue to get things you do want."
For instance, you may want to stop the flood of catalogs, but get coupons and sales promotions from local stores.
Many charities share information
If you gave to the relief effort in Haiti, there's a good chance you'll hear from other international aid organizations. Many charities exchange mailing lists or sell the data from the information they collect.
"You may have a charity that exchanges mailing lists with another organization that has similar interest, so maybe they both can get new donors," explains Bennett Weiner, CEO of the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance.
Some groups don't do this. I checked the solicitation I received from World Vision and it says, "We respect your privacy and do not rent, sell, or exchange our mailing lists." I like that.
If you don't see a statement like this, look for an opt-out box that lets you say you don't want your name or address shared. These boxes are small and easy to miss. If this is important to you, go to the charity's Web site and check its privacy policy.
What should you do if you get a flood of letters from a charity you don't want to donate to? You can ignore the mailing and shred them. Or you can write the group (I usually send it back in the pre-addressed envelope) and tell them to take you off their list.
The Do Not Call Registry
There are now more than 191 million phone numbers on the list. Registration is permanent; you do not have to renew. Being on the list will dramatically reduce the number of sales calls you get from legitimate telemarketers.
Con artists, who are breaking the law anyway, ignore the list. The best you can do with them is to hang up and file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
Remember, the Do Not Call Registry does not cover political calls, legitimate surveys and charity appeals.
"If a charity calls and you tell them you do not want to get any more calls from them, they are obligated to honor that request," notes the BBB's Bennett Weiner.
Companies that you've done business with in the past 18 months are also allowed to call you, unless you tell them to stop.
The bottom line: Guard your information
Anytime you're asked for personal information, stop and find out why the company wants it. Is there a legal reason they need it? If not, what do you get from providing that information? If there isn't something significant in it for you, don't give it out.
More information
© 2013 msnbc.com. Reprints


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Useful links and market url schemas for Android, iOS, BlackBerry
After a few months off from mobile development, I realized I have forgotten all the necessary developer, application and market links for my Android, iOS, BlackBerry applications. Furthermore, it took me some time to gather them all back together as well as market deeplinks for all environments. So, I have decided to put the list together that will help me catch much faster next time.


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Product Reference: B327SSS-B
Contemporary, slimline design. The handle is brushed stainless steel for a more classic look and feel.
Manufactured using:
BLADE SHAPE: Drop Point
- 25 year warranty
420HC: This is Buck's standard blade material because it approaches the wear resistance of high carbon alloys while delivering the corrosion resistance of chromium stainless steels.
Drop Point: Strong, thick, for heavy tasks but also happy to be used as a general work knife. Very versatile, strong and precise.
For more details and information about our steel and blade types, click here.
Over 18 only. Please click here for knife age restrictions and law.
Order before 2pm for same day dispatch.
Express and Next Day orders received by 2pm Monday-Saturday will be dispatched the same day. Orders received after 2pm will be dispatched the next day.
Guaranteed Delivery
UK Deliveries:
Standard (FREE over £30): 5-10 working days.
Express Tracked (£3.99): 1-3 working days.
DPD Next Day Tracked* (£7.99): Next day - when ordered before 2pm (Mon-Sat).
*Next day delivery is not available to the Scottish Highlands, Northern Ireland or the Channel Islands.
International Deliveries:
These will be despatched using Landmark Global or DPD in the Republic of Ireland. Please note larger orders outside of the EU may be subject to import taxes. Once you have selected your delivery country in the basket you will be given a delivery estimate.
Our Packaging:
All of our packaging is plastic free and can be recycled or composted at home. We still receive a number of products from our suppliers wrapped in plastic, which means you may receive some of this in your parcel. We are communicating with our suppliers to change this. Read our blog to learn more.
Free Returns
You can return non personalised products purchased from us for a no quibble refund using our free returns service within 90 days of receiving the item. On engraved & embossed orders we can exchange your order or credit your Buck account if you are not completely satisfied. Returns from outside the UK will need to pay return postage.


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Living and Working in the Greater Portland Area
Portland, situated on the banks of the beautiful Columbia and Willamette rivers, is Oregon's largest city. Bursting with culture, amazing eateries and an abundance of activities for the outdoor enthusiast, this eco-friendly city offers a small town feel wrapped in the infrastructure of a bustling metropolis. Whatever your passion, it only adds to the flavor that makes the greater Portland area so inviting.
Portland is home to two Providence Magnet facilities, Providence Portland Medical Center and Providence St. Vincent are part of our not-for-profit network of hospitals, health plans and clinics serving the greater Portland area. Providence Portland Medical Center is a 483 bed, full service patient care facility specializing in cancer and cardiac care. Serving the North Portland since 1941, with an addition of an 11 story tower in the 2000's, the expanded cancer and surgery services strengthens the already excellent level of care available to our patients.
Providence St. Vincent Medical center, founded in 1875, 523 bed, unique teaching hospital offers specialized programs such as the Providence Heart and Vascular Institute, Oregon Medical Laser Center, Providence Multiple Sclerosis Center, and Providence Stroke Center.
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CHICAGO (MCT) — The small northwestern Illinois town of Dixon. Ill., took another body blow Tuesday as federal authorities charged that its longtime comptroller stole nearly double what prosecutors originally alleged.
In formally indicting Rita Crundwell Tuesday, federal authorities charged she stole more than a whopping $53 million from city coffers over nearly 22 years, up from the initial estimate of $30 million in just the last six years.
Prosecutors are now moving to force the champion quarter-horse breeder to forfeit bank accounts, her horse farm in Dixon, three residences, a luxury motor home and more than 300 horses — all of which she allegedly bought with the stolen city funds.
Crundwell, who served as Dixon's comptroller and treasurer since 1983, stole the money beginning in December 1990 from a city bank account the current mayor has said he never knew existed. Over the next 21 ½ years, she allegedly stole more than $53 million — on average in excess of $200,000 every month, a staggering sum for a town the size of Dixon, best known as the boyhood home of President Ronald Reagan.
For the first time, authorities alleged that Crundwell concealed all the money going into her own pocket by telling the mayor and City Council that the state was late in its payments to Dixon.
Prosecutors also revealed that Crundwell admitted to FBI agents during her arrest last month in City Hall to using the ill-gotten city money to buy some of her horses and to pay for their upkeep.
With more than half of the money stolen in the last six years, the embezzlements grew more bold over time.
"The whole thing is incredible," Mayor James Burke said Tuesday in a telephone interview. "There's been five city councils and at least probably three mayors and three finance commissioners in that period of time ... She got by a lot of people."
Experts have said numerous financial safeguards broke down or simply didn't exist in the city of just under 16,000. For one, Crundwell had almost complete control over finances, authorities said. She also picked up the city's mail to keep city officials from learning about the secret bank account she used to funnel herself the money, investigators alleged Tuesday. When she took a vacation, she had a relative handle the chore, they said.
Prosecutors asked for court permission to auction off 311 horses she boarded at her ranch in Dixon, one run by her longtime boyfriend in Beloit, Ill., as well as at farms around the country, including Texas, Florida and Ohio. In court papers authorities listed all the horses. Topping the list was a horse named "Have Faith in Money."
The government said it plans to eventually sell the animals and other seized property in order to return some of the funds Dixon has lost.
But in the meantime, the U.S. Marshal Service intends to hire a contractor to feed and care for them.
"Deputy marshals will not be running around feeding horses," said Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal John O'Malley in Chicago. "We will have professionals do that."
Crundwell's arrest two weeks ago sent shockwaves through the horse breeding industry nationwide. Crundwell was considered the most successful breeder in the country with her horses taking home top prizes at shows across the nation, said Gene Graves, president of the American Quarter Horse Association.
Many rival breeders fear that selling off hundreds of some of the finest horses in the nation would depress prices, a problem that Graves likened to the mortgage foreclosure crisis.
"You put that many up for auction at one auction, it's going to be tough," he said.
The stunning thefts have led some Dixon residents to call for Burke and the City Council to resign. Some foes gathered for about an hour across from City Hall Tuesday afternoon after hearing the latest allegations against Crundwell, according to the group's leader, Jennifer De Maria.
"We're not going to back down," said De Maria, 36. "We have an agenda and first thing on the agenda is to clean house, to get new elected city officials in there. ... Get people that ... are watching out for our money and not wanting to line their pockets."


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Large Type Notes, 5 Cents and Gold Coins in Michigan
Coin Zone
Business Contact: Keith Boyer
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Coin Zone is a full-service rare-coin firm located in beautiful West Michigan in Muskegon, MI. We offer investors and collectors expert advice and guidance in the selection of gold, silver, paper money and high-quality rare coins.
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Muskegon, Michigan 49442
United States


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BEIRUT (AP) — Syria blasted NATO's move to deploy Patriot missiles along its border with Turkey, calling the decision "provocative," as the West took a major step toward a possible military role in the civil war.
After getting Cabinet approval, German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere told reporters that two German Patriot batteries with a total of 400 soldiers would be sent to the border area under NATO command for one year, although the deployment could be shortened.
The announcement also appeared to be a message to Assad's regime at a time when Washington and other governments fear Syria may be readying its chemical weapons stockpiles for possible use as fighting with the rebels in the capital, Damascus, and other areas intensifies.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reiterated concerns Wednesday that "an increasingly desperate Assad regime might turn to chemical weapons" or lose control of them to militant groups.
In recent days, U.S. intelligence has detected signs the Syrian regime was moving chemical weapons components around within several sites, according to a senior U.S. defense official and two U.S. officials. This type of activity had not been detected before and one of the U.S. officials said it bears further scrutiny.
Syria's deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad insisted the deployment of the missile defense system would not affect the determination of President Bashar Assad's government to crush the "terrorists," using the regime's term for rebels fighting to topple the longtime leader.
Mekdad denounced the NATO move and the chemical weapons "chorus" as part of a conspiracy that is possibly laying out the foundations for a military intervention in Syria.
Syria has been careful not to confirm it has chemical weapons while insisting it would never use such weapons against its own people
"I repeat for the hundredth time that even if such weapons exist in Syria, they will not be used against the Syrian people," Mekdad said in an interview with Lebanon's Al-Manar TV station. "We cannot possibly commit suicide, Syria is a responsible country."
Mekdad added that the Syrian government is worried the U.S. or some European countries could provide "terrorist" organizations in Syria with chemical weapons to use, then blame the government.
Asked about NATO's approval to send Patriot missiles to Turkey, Mekdad said "there is absolutely no justification for that because Syria will not attack the friendly people of Turkey."
He said Syria's problem was with the Turkish government led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which he said has funded and trained "terrorists" and opened its borders for al-Qaida fighters to come to Syria.
He said the Turkish government was "bankrupt" and was "begging for assistance from NATO countries."
"The Turkish move and NATO's support for it is a provocative move, part of psychological warfare against Syria," Mekdad said. "But if they think this will affect our determination to fight the terrorists ... they are wrong."
He warned that any foreign military intervention against Syria will be "catastrophic" with severe consequences.
NATO agreed earlier this week to send the weapons to prevent cross-border attacks against Turkey after mortar rounds and shells from Syria killed five Turks.
Germany's Cabinet approved sending German Patriot air defense missiles to Turkey on Thursday. The decision must be endorsed by the German Parliament, but approval is all but assured. The Dutch Cabinet is expected to announce approval Friday, contingent on parliamentary approval.
De Maiziere said the overall mission was also expected to include two batteries each from the Netherlands and the United States.
German officials stressed that the missiles will only be used to defend Turkish territory and would not be a part of any "no fly zone" over Syrian territory.
"Nobody knows what such a regime is capable of and that is why we are acting protectively here," Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said.
Officials said the Patriots will be programmed so that they can intercept only Syrian weapons that cross into Turkish airspace. They aren't allowed to penetrate Syrian territory pre-emptively. That means they would have no immediate effect on any Syrian government offensives — chemical or conventional — that remain strictly inside the country's national borders.
Due to the complexity and size of the Patriot batteries — including their radars, command-and-control centers, communications and support facilities — they will probably have to travel by sea and won't arrive in Turkey for another month, NATO officials said.
Violence in Syria, meanwhile, persisted. A booby-trapped car exploded outside the offices of the Red Crescent society in the al-Zahera neighborhood of Damascus, killing one person, according to state television.
It's the latest in a series of bombings that have hit Damascus in recent weeks amid fierce fighting in the capital's suburbs between Assad's forces and rebels seeking to topple him.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the explosion was followed by a heavy deployment of security troops in the area on the southern edge of Damascus.
Associated Press writer David Rising in Berlin contributed to this report.
Syria blasts NATO move on Patriot missiles
BEIRUT (AP) — Syria blasted NATO's move to deploy Patriot missiles along its border with Turkey, calling the decision "provocative," as the West took a major step toward a possible military role in the civil war.


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I decided to throw ArchLinux on my Cr-48 netbook because I think that Ubuntu is a little too bloated for the hardware, and because I've never really used Arch before and it seems like the sweet spot for me (I'm a long time gentoo user, but I don't look forward to compiling Xorg on an Intel Atom!).
Predominantly you will follow the Ubuntu guide:
https://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org … on-a-cr-48
However, there will be a few differences, and as well some tips. I'll try to write them out in order that they apply to the original document.
#1: If you do not have a USB ethernet adapter, make sure you have a >=8GB usb key!
#2: Yes, you do need a linux machine to complete the tutorial (well perhaps not, cygwin may work but I didn't try it, in theory it actually should), but you do not need the chromium-os repo or any of the repo tools
#3: Don't be afraid to experiment!
OK, that aside, let's go through the steps. I'll outline them here, refer to the actual doc linked above to get the nitty gritty.
Step 1:
Resize your partitions. Essentially the way the disk is laid out in the Cr-48 by default is 3 pairs of kernel+rootfs partitions. Two of those pairs are used by ChromeOS (the spare sits waiting for a new update, when it comes, the spare is updated and the bootloader chooses the spare to bootfrom, while the old "live" disk becomes the new spare. Always lets you go back to the previous snapshot you were running! Nice for switching between dev/beta channels in the future).
The third pair will be our pair (/dev/sda6 and /dev/sda7).
The instructions on this step need to be followed exactly, as you can screw up partition boundries pretty roughly.
Step 2:
Install Arch Linux into a container file. The guide tells you how to do this with VirtualBox on Ubuntu, and as that's the extra machine (a Ubuntu one)I had laying around, it worked perfect for me. This should work on any *nix distro with Virtualbox though, so don't fret if you aren't on Ubuntu.
Now, the Google guide assumes you are going to have the Chromium OS source repo installed so you can chroot to it and run cgpt (the purple text). If you just want to get a different OS on that sucker (re: you don't plan on developing the chromium os), you don't need the repo at all. You can find the cgpt tool on the Cr48 laptop in /usr/bin/cgpt, just scp it over (this is as root, on the actual Cr48):
# scp /us/bin/cgpt user@ubuntuHost:/path/to/cgpt
# chmod a+rx /path/to/cgpt
Ignore the warnings about it not being able to save the host key, you'll just have to type "yes" each time you ssh or scp to your Ubuntu machine.
In /arch/setup, do not worry about partitioning the disks (the setup tool won't work anyways as it uses cfdisk and will error out due to GPT), just format /dev/sda1 your preferred fs type. The ChromeOS kernel supports ext2, ext3, ext4 (probably others) but since its an SSD, you will find holy wars about whether or not journalling is wear levelling the drive with extra writes (I went with ext4, only metadata heavy operations really seem to be an increase in writes, and even then its 4MB->7MB, high in percentage, small in size, plus I really don't want ext2 to die on me).
I like to install base and the following packages to configure wifi:
dialog, iproute2, linux-atm, netcfg, wireless-tools, wpa_actiond
Step 3:
Write the contents of the modified container file to /dev/sda7. The guide tells you to use ssh, cat and piping to achieve this, however I noticed (after waiting a while at first, then watching traffic from my host machine sit idle) that the Wifi on my Cr-48 drops out after transmitting ~1.7GB of data. This is where the USB key comes in, you can just copy the rootfs.bin file onto it (format it with a FS that is suitable for file sizes >=4GB) then do dd if=/media/yourUSBKey/rootfs.bin of=/dev/sda7 and wait for it to complete.
To see where your key is mounted, you can dmesg | tail until its mounted, then run "mount".
Step 4:
Modify the kernel config line from your currently used kernel, and write the kernel to /dev/sda6. This step also assumes you have the Chromium OS source installed, however once again we don't need it, you can just get the files from the online source repository:
http://codesearch.google.com/codesearch … miumos&d=0
http://codesearch.google.com/codesearch … miumos&d=0
Grab them on your nix machine, scp them into your Cr-48.
This one is where I ran into some trouble, and not really sure why as it had nothing to do with Arch Linux. The following command would always fail for me:
sh ./make_dev_ssd.sh --partitions '6' --save_config foo
What that command does is read in your kernel into a temporary file, use dump_kernel_config on the tmpfile to read out the config line the bootloader uses, and saves the config line to a file given by your flag and appended by .6 (the partition number), so foo.6 in this example. However, dump_kernel_config /tmpfile was always failing on my machine with a memory mapping error when working on partition 6. dump_kernel_config /dev/sda6 worked fine however, its just when reading from an image file it was failing.
If you load up make_dev_ssd.sh in qemacs, you will find a line:
mydd if="$ssd_device" of="$old_blob" bs=$bs skip=$offset count=$size
I replaced that line with (just temporarily):
mydd if="/dev/sda6" of="$old_blob" bs=$bs
And all my troubles went away, the tool was able to grab the config, I edited it with qemacs as per the doc, and it wrote it back.
Step 5:
Set your boot priority, test out a boot and you should be dropped at an arch linux shell! If it works, you can fix the bootorder permanently (well until the next update, as per the doc) from Arch Linux.
So far I haven't had any issues with drivers. Make sure you install xf86-video-intel for the intel Xorg driver, and alsa-utils for controlling sound, but acpi and all looks to be just fine (which is expected). I need to bring in some of the keymap settings from the ChromeOS as I'm sorely missing the pageup/pagedown/home/end shortcuts.
Performance is pretty awesome considering what you have. I'm getting ~8 hours of battery life in Arch running dwm. It seems much snappier than the ChromeOS install on the exact same hardware.
I will update this thread with caveats/fixes as I come across them, I've just started experimenting myself.
Thank you for the info. Please keep it updated, may be add it to WIKI as well?
I got mine today. Very helpful. Thanks!
If I completely mess up the hard drive, how do I go about restoring to the factory setting?
The way ChromeOS is set up is very unfriendly to user-installed binaries (for security reasons or whatever): the root fs is executable but read-only, and the stateful partition is writable but not executable. Is it still true when you boot into Arch? Can you install programs via pacman?
If it boots, you'll be able to restore the factory setting, just follow these instructions: http://www.google.com/support/chromeos/ … er=1080595
As for the user-installed binaries, those restrictions only exist *inside* of ChromeOS. Once you boot into Arch, you have complete control over everything and what you want. You don't deal with the stateful partition, you don't deal with the other Chrome partitions, all Arch cares about is /dev/sda7, it gets one partition only, but it has full access to that partition.
I've got a bunch of apps running on mine now and its pretty sweet for the resolution/battery life/keyboard (touchpad sucks, yes, but with dwm I rarely need to use it).
I got mine and installed Arch + KDE. It runs pretty well, even with compositing enabled. Once I get the 3G connection working, it will be perfect.
I just installed Arch on my CR-48 because Ubuntu is a bit bloated for my taste but I have a terrible problem. I'm running XFCE4 but I doubt that's related. The issue is that the touchpad is completely unusable when I have the AC plugged in. As soon as it gets plugged in the touchpad acts very erratic. When I unplug it the touchpad acts normally. Thoughts?
I am having some issues with the partitioning step. The guide said that running
sudo initctl stop powerd
would stop the backlight from dimming, but as it turns out, it also stops the laptop from shutting down due to inactivity. So I was in the middle of the
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=131072 seek=1040 count=47280
step when the laptop just shut down. Now I am stuck at the "Your system is transitioning to Developer Mode" screen, where it says to wait 5-10 minutes for the system to reboot. It's been about half an hour, and I am still stuck here. What should I do? Should I shut it down and then try again? Or do the recovery thing?
EDIT: Never mind, I figured it out. I just made a recovery drive and started again.
Last edited by damis648 (2010-12-19 16:52:38)
feld that sounds kind of bizarre... I have no idea what would be causing that. Do you have acpi installed?
damis648, *doh* good to point out, I'll update the original post to remind people that they should keep power plugged in Good news though with the recovery.
feld that sounds kind of bizarre... I have no idea what would be causing that. Do you have acpi installed?
after further research I found others reporting similar symptoms with touchpads. turns out there's something wrong with that wall outlet (grounding issue?) as I moved to another outlet and it's OK.
Am I the only one having problems with the synaptics driver? It doesn't seem to pick up the trackpad. I have 10-synaptics.conf at the default, along with SHMConfig, but synclient says that the synaptics driver isn't loaded. I know that it's located at /dev/input/event6, and specifying that just breaks trackpad functionality. Without the driver, there's no two finger scrolling or two finger right clicking. Left and right click are registered on the bottom of the pad. Thanks in advance.
Am I the only one having problems with the synaptics driver? It doesn't seem to pick up the trackpad. I have 10-synaptics.conf at the default, along with SHMConfig, but synclient says that the synaptics driver isn't loaded. I know that it's located at /dev/input/event6, and specifying that just breaks trackpad functionality. Without the driver, there's no two finger scrolling or two finger right clicking. Left and right click are registered on the bottom of the pad. Thanks in advance.
I am noticing the same problem. If it matters I am running xfce. I'll play around with it but I can't say I know enough to fix it.
Also, thanks a lot vostok4 for the guide!
I made some progress by copying the files from Chrome's /lib/firmware into Arch's /lib/firmware. Webcam is working, and the 3G modem now shows up as wired interface usb0 just like it does in Chrome. I still haven't figured out how to get it connected to Verizon though. I noticed that Chrome had the mobile-broadband-provider-info package installed, so I installed that in Arch. I tried getting an IP from Verizon using DHCP but no luck. I also tried getting my IP, subnet mask, and gateway from Chrome and configuring it manually in Arch, but still nothing.
I can't get the touchpad working properly either. I don't even care about multitouch, I just want vertical scrolling to work. I have kcm_touchpad installed, and it says Device Not Found. The xorg.conf in Chrome is using the "syntp" driver and "/dev/input/mice" for the device, but that didn't work either.
Things I still haven't figured out:
-3G connection
-Synaptics driver
-Battery driver/monitor
Everything else is working. If I can get these things fixed, it will be perfect.
Actually, suspend is working, it just isn't showing up as an option in the KDE power management. But the pm-suspend command works fine.
Great call on the /lib/firmware move, ill give that a shot. Are you using networkmanager? That has native support for 3g connections. I am not using it but you may try if you are able to. I have fully functional acpi, ie battery life, charging, suspend etc. I don't think I have anything special other than copying the kernel modules. Will post my acpi packages when I get home. Good work!
Got acpi working, I had forgotten to add hal to my daemons array. So now I just need 3G and synaptics working and I'll be set.
This is interesting... Synaptics is providing their linux multitouch gesture suite to OEMs like Google, but not to end users yet. Maybe this is what we're waiting for.
http://www.gadgetvenue.com/google-chrom … -04205317/
I'm going to see if I can find it on the Chrome partition and move it over to Arch somehow.
This is interesting... Synaptics is providing their linux multitouch gesture suite to OEMs like Google, but not to end users yet. Maybe this is what we're waiting for.
http://www.gadgetvenue.com/google-chrom … -04205317/
I'm going to see if I can find it on the Chrome partition and move it over to Arch somehow.
The most I could find was to try and copy the /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/syntp_drv.so file to Arch, and set that driver in 10-synaptics.conf. It did not work no matter what I tried, and from what it looked like, X didn't actually load the driver (based on Xorg.0.log).
I'm trying to figure out the touchpad (on Ubuntu instead of Arch Linux) and found there's a folder /opt/Synaptics as well, and a file /etc/init/syntpenh.conf. According to the xorg.conf, the touchpad is using the driver 'syntp'.....I have no idea what to do with /opt/Synaptics though
There are also some init scripts and /var/lib/Synaptics. I can't remember where the init scripts are located, but just cd to / and run "find . | grep synaptics". There's a synaptics.conf and a synaptics-dbus.conf, and I'm still trying to figure out what to do with them. The synaptics.conf script requires /var/lib/Synaptics/chronos.1000 to be present. The scripts seem to initialize the device and driver, so I'm guessing that first we need to run the scripts, then start dbus, then start xorg with the "syntp" driver. Be careful trying to run the init scripts at startup... if you break the boot process you may have to start all over. Before tweaking the boot process, remember to use "cgpt add -i 6 -P 5 -T 1 -S 0 /dev/sda" so that it will fall back to chrome if you can't boot.
Also backup your partition image before you mess around with synaptics.conf. Be extremely careful... if you run synaptics.conf as root it starts recursively deleting your whole filesystem and causes irreparable damage. If you don't have a backup, you will have to restore it to the factory state and start from scratch.
Well I tried throwing /opt/Synaptics on the ubuntu partition, as well as the conf files from /etc/init/ and the .so file from /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/ but all it did was disable my touchpad completely. Removing those extra files restored it to normal, but I didn't try copying the stuff from /var/lib/Synaptics as well.
I'm wondering if installing the package mentioned at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Synap … Multitouch may help as well instead of trying to hack the closed-source driver from chrome OS to work. The problem I'm having with the package from that link is that it requires the linux-headers for the current kernel to be installed, however we're using the kernel from chrome OS so I can't figure out which headers package would match....I'm getting the following:
Module build for the currently running kernel was skipped since the kernel source for this kernel does not seem to be installed.
Any idea which linux-headers would (possibly) work?
Odd, I didn't seem to have any problems after trying what I said above :-/ .....
I remember seeing a few synaptics kernel header files when I searched, but I can't remember where they were. If you go to the root folder and use "find . | grep syn" or maybe grep Syn or grep touch, I think they will show up.
Well, here's the output of "find . | grep -i syn" as root from /
The reason I was looking for kernel headers is that the synaptics-dkms ubuntu package I was looking at trying requires the headers to be installed so that it can recompile the modules properly. I'm wondering that since the Ubuntu/Arch Linux installation is actually using the Chrome OS kernel, maybe there's a way to install it's headers? Shooting blindly here, but would installing them in the chroot accomplish anything before copying the rootfs to the CR-48?
The last two files in the list are what I was thinking of:
Also, the 3G modem under chrome is using a daemon called flimflamd to manage the connection. I am trying to get flimflamd running on Arch and see if I can get a 3G connection.


text:
2011 Nissan Altima Sedan Overview
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|2011 Nissan Altima Sedan Specs
2011 Nissan Altima Sedan, Nissan's Top-Selling Model, Again Provides Quality, Value, Style and Driving Pleasure
|Models and Manufacturing
The Nissan Altima Sedan, the best selling individual model in the Nissan lineup, received a number of enhancements for the 2010 model year – helping keep the design fresh, the quality high and the value unmatched in the mid-size sedan class. For 2011, Altima Sedan again provides a unique combination of exhilarating driving pleasure, distinctive and sporty design and a wide range of available features and technology. Enhancements for the new model year include revised package content and three new exterior colors.
The 2011 Altima Sedan is available in three well-equipped models designed to appeal to a broad range of buyer needs and budgets: the 2.5 CVT and 2.5 S CVT with standard 175-horsepower 2.5-liter inline 4-cylinder, and the 3.5 SR CVT with a 270-horsepower 3.5-liter V6.
"Altima has become a true standard bearer for Nissan and the mid-size sedan segment," said Al Castignetti, vice president and general manger, Nissan Division, Nissan North America, Inc.
"It offers an unexpected level of refinement and attention to detail for its class, along with a truly pleasurable driving experience that has become an Altima hallmark. We're also dedicated to keeping Altima's quality at the top of its segment once again this year. We expect great things from Altima in 2011."
|Models and Manufacturing
Exterior Styling That Stands Out In Class
The Altima Sedan received a number of significant refinements just last year – including a restyled hood, grille, front bumper and aluminum-alloy wheel designs. These changes added a greater visual volume to the front end, especially the hood. The changes also provide greater differentiation between the Altima Sedan and Altima Coupe.
The refreshed exterior styling embraces Altima's distinctive, iconic, sporty design. It offers a "dynamic simplicity" with an aggressive stance, distinctive Nissan "T-shaped" grille, powerful front fenders, strong wedge character line, forward A-pillars and Nissan-family roofline. High Intensity Discharge (HID) headlights and front fog lights are optionally available with the Sport Package (3.5 SR), while Altima-style taillights and dual exhaust finishers are found on all models. An aerodynamic rear spoiler is offered as part of the new Special Edition Package, along with fog lights, auto on/off headlights and leather-wrapped steering wheels with audio controls.
Altima's 109.3-inch wheelbase and short front and rear overhangs (with an overall length of 190.7 inches) enhances its agile maneuverability and contribute to its sporty, aggressive appearance. Altima's chassis layout also offers roomy front and rear interior headroom and legroom, plus ample cargo storage with 15.3 cubic feet of trunk space. Altima is available with 16-inch (optional on 2.5 S) or 17-inch (standard on 3.5 SR) aluminum-alloy wheels or 16-inch steel wheels with covers (2.5, 2.5 S).
Eight exterior colors are offered, including three new colors – Metallic Slate, Saharan Stone and Brilliant Silver. The other available 2011 colors are Tuscan Sun, Navy Blue, Super Black, Ocean Gray and Winter Frost.
|Models and Manufacturing
A Refined Interior with a Focus on Entertainment
The 2011 Altima continues to emphasize refined workmanship and the use of soft materials, such as padded armrests, and stylish chrome accents – with complementing fabrics and finishers for all interior colors (both cloth and leather-appointed).
Altima's instrument panel features a Fine Vision gauge display for precise readability and the L-shaped flow of the instrument panel to the center console adds to a driver-oriented cockpit feel. The center console includes a triple front cupholder design, among the many convenient cup and bottle areas (up to nine total, including 20-ounce bottle holders in the door panels) and storage compartments, many of which are covered. The volume of the glove compartment is also substantial, measuring an accommodating 0.46 cubic feet.
Three interior colors are available – Charcoal, Blond and Frost. The interior is offered in both high quality soft-touch suede-like fabric and with optional leather-appointed seating.
Along with the exhilaration provided by the driver-oriented cockpit and high levels of Altima performance, the "entertainment factor" of Altima's interior is enhanced with an available Premium Audio Package that includes a Bose® AM/FM audio system with nine speakers, 4.3-inch color display, USB port with iPod® connectivity, Bluetooth® Hands-free Phone System, MP3/WMA CD-ROM playback, XM® Satellite Radio (XM® subscription required, sold separately) and RearView Monitor.
Also offered is a next-generation Nissan Hard Drive Navigation System with 6.5-inch VGA color display (replaces the 4.3-inch display), 9.3GB Music Box® Hard Drive for music storage and playback, advanced map data including speed limit advisories, Zagat® Survey restaurant guide, XM NavTraffic® and XM NavWeather™ (XM® subscription required, sold separately), Bluetooth® Streaming Audio, DVD player and an RCA input for auxiliary audio/video connectivity.
Other available convenience features include an 8-way power driver's seat, automatic on/off headlights, leather-wrapped steering wheel, steering wheel-mounted audio controls, power sliding glass moonroof, XM® Satellite Radio (XM® subscription required, sold separately), HomeLink® Universal Transceiver, heated front driver and passenger seats, dual-zone automatic temperature control and rear-passenger air conditioning vents.
|Models and Manufacturing
A Choice of Two Efficient Powerplants
Altima's exhilarating driving pleasure comes from a tuned combination of strong acceleration, responsive handling and dynamic sound – provided by advanced engine designs and the proven Nissan front-wheel drive "D" platform.
Two powerplants are once again available in 2011. The 3.5-liter 24-valve DOHC V6 is rated at 270 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque and offers strong acceleration and a tuned, resonant sound quality. The V6 features minimized friction, superior cylinder head cooling and twin knock sensors.
Also available is a 2.5-liter DOHC 16-valve 4-cylinder producing 175 horsepower (170 hp CAL) and 180 lb-ft of torque (175 lb-ft CAL). It features a silent chain drive and a balancer system (with balancer changed to a center-mounted location for excellent NVH) that effectively negates vibrations without taking up much space – combining ideal packaging and smoothness.
Both engines feature continuously variable valve timing, modular engine design, microfinished crank journals and cam lobes, molybdenum coated lightweight pistons and electronically controlled throttles. Altima's standard dual exhaust system is designed to reduce exhaust backpressure by 35% on the 4-cylinder and 50% with the V6 (over the previous generations). Both systems utilize large tube diameters and include dual chrome-tipped exhaust finishers.
Nissan's advanced Xtronic CVT™, which is designed to create a true synergy between engine and transmission with smooth, responsive, fluid-feeling performance and efficient operation, is standard on all models. The CVT has been tailored specifically for use with the Altima.
The V6 CVT features a "Sport" mode controller with a high-speed central processing unit and Adaptive Shift Controller with adaptive logic for fast shifting in both normal and manual modes. The adaptive logic feature delivers the best shift pattern based on the driving environment and driver's actions. It utilizes 700 programmed algorithms to adjust to differing conditions, such as uphill or downhill driving, as well as adapting to three styles of driving – economy, normal and sporty.
Altima's independent front suspension with advanced geometry and shock absorbers with rebound springs provides responsive handling and a comfortable ride. The subframe-mounted front suspension makes extensive use of lightweight aluminum parts, while an X-type upper cowl structure helps establish front body rigidity for suspension mounting.
Altima also features a low engine-mounting position with a six-point pendulum-type mounting system and the half-shafts are set at equal angles and nearly parallel to the ground – virtually eliminating torque steer.
The rear multi-link independent suspension design separates the rear shock absorbers and springs for minimized friction and the shocks are in line with the center of the rear wheels, providing excellent damping and almost no harshness. Front and rear stabilizer bars are standard. Altima 3.5 SR offers larger diameter stabilizer bars and unique spring rates and strut damping, as well as 17-inch wheels and tires.
Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC) with Traction Control System (TCS) is standard on all Altima models. Altima's standard twin-orifice vehicle-speed-sensitive power rack-and-pinion steering system provides light steering effort at low speeds and a secure feeling at high speeds, along with a balanced, "on center" feel.
Braking for the 2011 Altima is provided by standard 4-wheel disc brakes with 4-wheel, 4-channel, 4-sensor Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) with Electronic Brake force Distribution (EBD), which optimizes brake force depending on load condition (passengers and cargo). A variable ratio pivot brake pedal provides a rigid feel at freeway speeds and less sensitive, more controllable operation in city driving.
The 2011 Altima Sedan comes equipped with a number of standard safety features, including the Nissan Advanced Air Bag System (AABS) with dual-stage supplemental front air bags with seat belt and occupant classification sensors, front seat-mounted side impact supplemental air bags and roof-mounted curtain side impact supplemental air bags for front and rear-seat outboard occupant head protection.
Other standard equipment includes front seat belts with pretensioners and load limiters, front seat Active Head Restraints, the LATCH System (Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren), Zone Body construction with front and rear crumple zones and Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS).
|Models and Manufacturing
Models and Manufacturing
The 2011 Nissan Altima is available in three well-equipped models: 2.5 CVT, 2.5 S CVT and 3.5 SR CVT.
The 2.5 CVT includes standard 175-hp 2.5-liter DOHC 16-valve 4-cylinder engine, Xtronic CVT™, 4-wheel power-assisted disc brakes (vented front), independent suspension, 16-inch wheels and tires, velour seat trim, push button ignition, power windows and door locks, a long list of standard safety features and much more.
The Altima 2.5 S CVT also includes features such as Nissan Intelligent Key™; AM/FM/AUX input 6-speaker audio system, driver and front-passenger seatback map pockets, driver's footrest finisher, power windows with driver side one-touch auto up/down and more.
The Altima 3.5 SR CVT model starts with the 270-hp 3.5-liter V6 and then adds 8-way power driver's seat, 17-inch aluminum-alloy wheels, P215/55R17 all-season radial tires, leather-wrapped steering wheel, steering wheel audio controls, auto on/off headlights, manual folding heated sideview mirrors with integrated turn signals, dual illuminated vanity mirrors with extensions, one-touch auto up/down front windows and wood-tone finishers (Blond interior).
A number of option packages are also offered, allowing buyers to fine-tune the Altima to their precise needs – including the new Special Edition Package with auto on/off headlights, leather-wrapped steering wheel, steering wheel-mounted audio and ASCD controls, aluminum-alloy wheels, fog lights, rear spoiler and "Special Edition badge. Also available are a Convenience Package, Convenience Plus Package, 2.5 SL Package and Premium Audio Package, for the 2.5 S CVT.
The Technology Package, offered with the 2.5 S and 3.5 SR, includes the Nissan Hard Drive Navigation System with 6.5-inch color monitor and the 9.3GB Music Box? Hard Drive. The 3.5 SR Premium Package includes leather-appointed seats, leather-wrapped gearshift knob, power driver lumbar support, heated front seats, Bose? AM/FM audio system with 9 speakers, 4.3-inch color display, RearView Monitor, Bluetooth? Hands-free Phone System, USB port with iPod? connectivity, XM? Satellite Radio (XM® subscription required, sold separately), MP3/WMA CD-ROM playback compatibility, Radio Data System (RDS), speed-sensitive auto volume, auto-dimming rearview mirror, HomeLink? Universal Transceiver, compass, mood lighting, rear-passenger air conditioning vents and metallic-texture finishers (charcoal interior).
Finally, the Sport Package (3.5 SR) offers Dual-Zone Automatic Temperature Control, power sliding tinted glass moonroof with tilt, sliding sunshade and one-touch open/close with auto-reverse feature, High Intensity Discharge (HID) xenon headlights and fog lights.
Altima is assembled at the Nissan North America Smyrna and Decherd, Tennessee and Canton, Mississippi Manufacturing plants.
|Models and Manufacturing